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CREATING COMMITMENT

“If you were accused of CREATING COMMITMENT, of compelling people to act, of being in sales, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Ninety six percent of the time the answer would be no.

“Eighty percent of the new sales made in North America are made by twenty percent of the sales force,” (Strategic Selling)

Walk into most retail stores and the first person that approaches you will usually do so with an ineffective “can I help you?” The inevitable response, “no thanks, I’m just looking” puts an end to the interchange.

Why is this ineffective approach still being used?

• Because it’s what everyone has always said?
• Because we’re not trained to talk to strangers?
• To avoid being rejected if posing something a little more confronting?

We are taught at a young age to be cautious around strangers and to AVOID GOING WHERE YOU ARE NOT WELCOME. This conditioning, especially for those in sales, results in missed opportunities. One example of this is realtors who don’t call on properties that are listed as “For Sale By Owner”, presuming the seller doesn’t want their services. And they may be right, or they could just be waiting for the realtor with the right amount of gumption to call on them. There is only one way to find out.

People want VALUE for their money and time.

“The greatest value added is when we help someone achieve or acquire something they have always wanted but so far have been unable to do.” (The New Way To Sell).

HOW TO CREATE IT

• Make the person feel more important than the price.

• Find out what it is they want and if you have it to give.

• Begin the process of getting it. As Sir Issac Newton said, “a body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest.”

• Help them experience the results of positive action.

• Show them you care and then gently extend their comfort zone.

• Focus on the process of assisting them, instead of the end result, and you’ll be more successful in helping them make decisions and act.

• Be God Like: “The gods implore not, plead not, they only offer choice and occaison, which once past, return no more.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

CREATING COMMITMENT

How will this seminar improve your incentive meeting? It’s simple, I start with the basics. This technique was humorously applied by Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi, in his opening speech to his Wisconsin football team, where he held up a football and said “gentlemen, this is a football”. His premier tight end, Max McGee, responded with “not so fast coach”. Your top producers started with the basics and it will help them achieve at an even higher level to reflect on this.

BACK TO BASICS

• Get their attention. You have six seconds to let them know what they’re going to get out of attending your meeting

• READ THE SIGNS. As soon as someone says that they’re interested in what you have to offer, read everything else they say as a sign to enable you to help them get it.

• Take them at their word. Don’t make them tell you twice, simply go about giving it to them. As Larry Wilson says, “the greatest added value is when we help somebody achieve or accomplish something they desired but have not been able to do,” (Changing The Game: The New Way To Sell).

• Help them to act NOW. Be prepared to seal the deal and prompt positive action now. Remember Sir Issac Newton’s third law, “a body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest.”

IDENTIFY THE BLOCK

• If you’ve got them to admit they want what you have to offer, but are not acting on the offer, there must be something stopping them. Ask them what this is and address it by saying, “if I can handle that to your satisfaction would you feel comfortable in going ahead right now?” Remember the idea is to give them, or help them achieve, whatever it was they said they wanted.
• IDENTIFY THEIR MOST IMPORTANT CONCERN
Address this first, making it the focus.

HELP THEM MAKE A DECISION

• “I’VE GOT TO THINK IT OVER”
In response to this, while keeping your sales goal in mind, get them to list all the reasons they are hesitating in making a decision and then list alongside all the positive benefits of acting now. Ask them to weigh one against the other.

• HIGHLIGHT THE VALUE OF THEIR TIME
Remind people of the value of their time. This will mean different dollar amounts to people depending on their positions, but the principal is the same – that spending time hunting out other options could cost them. A CEO may be involved in a seven figure decision so perhaps the opportunity to get a significantly lower quotation if she delays her decision is worth it, but the key is to highlight the value of their TIME SPENT on sourcing alternatives and that saved on IMMEDIATE ACTION.

• How much is my time worth if I compare my ‘shopping time worth’ to my ‘cash generating time worth’. A simple rule of thumb is it takes an 8 + hours of a work day to release a 1 hour shopping time, so your ‘shopping time’ is worth about 8 times as much as you make in an hour.

SHOW THEM YOU REALLY CARE
Be in the top 4%

• THE STRAW THAT BUILT THE CAMELS BACK
Sometimes the thing that keeps people from acting is inertia and other times it’s a natural response to feeling pressured by your efforts. So drop the pressure and let them feel like the decision they’ve made is theirs alone. Saying something like, “if you buy this you will be the fourth person in a row” is about as irrelevant to their buying decision as “today I’m wearing green underwear,” but sometimes it can sufficiently drop the pressure and allow them to see that you’re offering them what they asked for.

• ALLOW THEM TO SAVE FACE
Voice responsibility for their lack of action, such as “I can tell I must have missed something here,” as this will encourage them to give you the information you can use to help them act.

• SILENCE IS GOLDEN
Know when to give them the information and when to listen.

• ANYTHING IS BE BETTER THAN NOTHING
When someone says, “I’ve got to sleep on it.” What can you do? You can either do nothing and let them leave hoping that maybe tomorrow they will wake up and decide to buy, or you can be proactive. Simply point out that you know this product will fit their needs so well that they will probably not sleep all night, and you don’t want them to loose sleep so you apply the sleeper hold. They sign the contract so they don’t have to worry all night then in the morning if they decide they do not want it they can call you up and cancel. That way they will be able to sleep at night, and you will have moved the deal along a little further.